Immigrants commit fewer crimes

The Cato Institute concludes its study of crime this way: “Legal and illegal immigrants are less likely to be incarcerated than natives.” They go on:

“There were an estimated 2,007,502 natives, 122,939 illegal immigrants, and 63,994 legal immigrants incarcerated in 2014. The incarceration rate was 1.53% for natives, 0.85% for illegal immigrants, and 0.47% for legal immigrants. Illegal immigrants are 44% less likely to be incarcerated than natives. Legal immigrants are 69% less likely to be incarcerated than natives…. If native-born Americans were incarcerated at the same rate as illegal immigrants, about 893,000 fewer natives would be incarcerated. If natives were incarcerated at the same rate as legal immigrants, about 1.4 million fewer natives would be incarcerated. The American Community Survey data include illegal immigrants incarcerated for immigration offenses and in ICE detention facilities. Subtracting out the 17,000 convicted for immigration offenses and the 34,000 in ICE detention to focus on non-immigration alien offenders lowers the illegal immigrant incarceration rate to 0.50%, which brings it close to the legal immigrant incarceration rate of 0.47%.”